“Lust, Loyalty and Losing”
XXXXIV.
I heard the spheres click together as the Ghul departed and she tossed them in my direction.
The spheres glowed and expanded like cells growing.
And grow it did until it took the form of a metallic humanoid construct.
Sort of like a man in armor just more compact, stronger by far and faster by even more. It was bronze in color with black trim. It had three arms on each side and I knew it had a purpose for each arm. Its face was a simple black visor, so the construct was completely devoid or emotion.
Immortals call them Soul Eaters.
For a Houri or a Ghul, they mean almost certain death.
To Djinn or an Ifreet, they mean being bound to the construct and not as a servant. Power stays and existence just sort of dissolves away.
For a powerful Ghul or Houri, these constructs are a favored ally. They are rare. I have not seen one for centuries.
I phased back into the Multi-verse. It is an almost purely magical construct and it cannot enter.
I ran. I ran as fast as my legs would take me. In the Multi-verse I am not as strong as in the Primal Plane.
A coil shot out from the palm of one of the hands of the Soul Eater. It penetrated the veil of the Multi-verse and it wrapped around my ankle. I tripped and it hauled me back into the Primal Plane. I grabbed the coil and I burned it with all my might but new coils flew from other hands of the Soul Eater and they wrapped around my wrists holding me tight.
I was weak and tired and no match for this creature. The coils undid the laces to the boots I was wearing and they expertly pulled them off. Socks were removed with equal precision. Perhaps even better than fingers could do it.
And then they just attacked my feet. They acted like the perfect hybrid between a feather and a finger. It was soft when it wanted to tease, hard when it located the right spot. It found the right spot quickly and it attacked.
Closer and closer it drew me while I laughed at the sensations on my soles.
As I drew near a pinkish gas shot from the visor and I breathed the fumes. I thought first it might be some sort of anesthetic to try and render me helpless, but it was quite the contrary. I did not need to breathe not being human, but somehow the gas penetrated my body. Permeated is perhaps the better word. My nerves were electrified and the tickling sensations became more intense and I screamed and the tickling continued.
More coils came from the sides and the Soul Eater was tickling me effortlessly reaching under my blouse and going through my sleeve up to my armpits. Others crept up my pant legs and climbed upwards. They were probing the calves, the back of the knees and then my inner thighs.
All was ticklish, but the inner thighs were the sweet spot and it knew it the moment it got there. The tips of the coils moved purposely at the point where the inner thighs meet the torso and they wiggled wickedly.
I laughed and screamed and I was pushed to my limits thrashing helplessly in the iron grip of the construct.
Exhausted and responding less and less to the tickling, the Soul Eater cast me on the ground on my back and mounted me like a lover might. A cocoon shaped force formed over us. Invisible to the outside on all planes. The construct would simply tickle me and feast on my life energy. And once it had consumed me in my entirety only it would emerge from the cocoon. The tickling would be savage and the attack on my psyche would go hand in hand.
No help on the way. No way to escape.
Ray would die and he'd be back, but not I. I'd be a permanent part of the Soul Eater.
Without identity, without soul, without love.
XXXXV.
I awoke.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"Does it matter?" the Ghul Hanna answered.
"I guess not," I replied shaking the cobwebs from my head. My body ached. I was not restrained. I was free but I felt trapped in a sense.
"You been out cold the last few days," she said. "I've been busy, so I kept up on ice until I could attend you properly."
"Are you going to kill me?" I asked.
"Is that what you thought would happen to you?" she asked seemingly entertained.
"The thought had crossed my mind," I said.
"If I kill you, you will return and we would have to play this out again," she said. "If I keep you as my pet for a few centuries and erode your spirit until it is a amorphous spineless mass, then I avoid your coming back for a time and when you do, perhaps you'd be more content flipping burgers rather than leading the Houri."
"Eroding the spirit," I repeated not liking the taste of the words on my tongue. "Doesn't sound like fun."
"Depends on who you ask," she said candidly. "You will beg me to tickle you. Beg me to hurt you. Beg me to mount you and ride you to my heart's content."
"I don't think so," I said boldly.
"Not today and not tomorrow," she said. "But all succumb eventually. The stronger the will, the greater the degradation and more they end up worshiping me at the end."
I looked around and saw the I was in a lush and luxurious room. It was twilight and the light of day was fading and the room was already illuminated by globes of light. The ocean could be heard outside and I had a distinct feeling that this was much like the bottle J'sella was trapped in when I was her master centuries past.
"No restraints, no bars on the windows, no locked doors," I observed. "But I am trapped as can be."
"That is correct," she said.
"If I attack you?" I prompted.
"The very room would aid me. If I required such aid. But we have already dueled and you are nothing to me. Nothing more than a fly," she said.
"So how do you plan on making me 'succumb'?" I asked.
"Torture is overrated. Not that I do not recur to it on many an occasion but if I have a choice, I usually prefer not to torture."
"Your good will shall win me over?" I asked sarcastically.
"My Djinns, Amela and T'ish will win you over," she said gesturing to two alluring Djinns that appered behind her.
They had been there the entire time. There were like twins but different. Amela was tall and white skinned with blue eyes and long flowing blond hair. She was slim but her curves were noticeable through her white gossamer dancer's outfit. T'ish was an exact copy of Amela, but her hair was raven black and her skin was tanned lightly. Her eyes were black and her outfit was black as well. They looked sexy as could be but there was something ominous about them.
"Not interested. I have enough girlfriend problems as it is," I said.
"You don't have much of a choice," Hanna replied. "Show him," she commanded.
The twin Djinns looked at me in unison and suddenly something changed. Like a switch had been turned on.
Their curves suddenly seemed more noticeable. Their bare skin was more eager. I felt myself grow excited in an instant with a rock hard erection that usually only presented itself in the heat of passion.
"You are feeling the Lust," Hanna explained with a professor's interest. "An ancient art of seduction which takes pleasure to an extreme. Amela and T'ish are experts in the lost art. They in fact have dedicated themselves to this art and this alone. All other skills have been forgotten. They live to give pleasure."
They were still a few feet away but their perfumed smell was alluring. Penetrating and intoxicating. Like nothing I had ever experienced. All my senses were on fire.
They approached and they touched me and I felt electricity rush through my body.
They removed heir clothes and they pulled off mine as I feebly resisted. I was naked before I realized it.
"You can't resist," Hanna said watching with keen rapture. "You are putty in their able hands."
I didn't realize what was happening really until I was pushed back on the bed and Amela mounted me. She slid over me with total ease and she was tight as she moved up and down .
"You'll climax quickly," Hanna said after watching a few long strokes as Amela expertly rose the full length of my shaft before descending expertly.
Maybe it was the word "climax" or maybe it was just that I was too excited to control myself. Whatever it was, I tightened and ejaculated violently.
"There we are," she said smiling. She was satisfied as I grunted with release. "But it will bring no relief. The cycle simply continues."
She was right. I was hard again in a thought and Amela simply continued to ride me.
T'ish pulled my arms above my head and tickled my armpits. I laughed hard but it didn't seem to matter to me. The Lust mattered and I could not pull myself away. T'ish released me and lingered by watching intently.
I came and I came and I came again. They were relentless and there was no satiating my lust. It would just start again and again.
Each time I came, Hanna suppressed a satisfied and entertained giggle. She finally approached and she scrambled her fingernails over the soles my bare feet as Amela rode me with unflinching accuracy carefully calculating every stroke to maximize my pleasure. I laughed and struggled but it just felt more sexy and I came again much in spite of myself.
"I'll take care of you myself once they've had their way with you. You will beg me to ride you and I will do it to say that I have conquered the infamous Constatinius."
She tickled once again teasing my toes and I groaned and laughed helplessly.
"Tickle him from time to time, T'ish," she instructed. "Don't let him think too much."
She leaned down to me so I could hear her. I looked at her; her pretty face and her pretty eyes.
"Alas, Contantinius, I must tend other pressing business. I'd enjoy this but there are things I need to attend to," she said kissing me gently on the forehead.
"You will discover that I am a very generous but demanding mistress, Constantinius," she added.
"Please enjoy your demise."
XXXXVI
I awoke lying on a couch in a room of the penthouse.
"Melissa is dead," Jeanie said. She had said the words sadly as she sat at my side.
"You should be dead as well," she added.
"Are you disappointed?" I asked my head pounding.
Jeanie looked a little hurt and I regretted having said the words.
"Of course, not," she said. "I've kept you sedated these past few days. The blast was enough to kill and your body and spirit needed time to recover. It was also fortunate that you were incapacitated."
"How can that be fortunate?" I asked frustrated. "There are people to manage. Things to do."
"Not anymore," Jeanie said. "The Ghul Grand Mistress Hanna has relieved you of your duties. She is thankful for your ingenuity and resourcefulness, but she will take control of this city. Your bonds are erased and all have pledged loyalty to the Grand Mistress. You will be expected to do the same."
"I don't want to swear loyalty to anyone," I said.
Jeanie smiled weakly. "We never do."
And again. "I'm sorry," I apologized and before I could say more the door to the room opened and a slender woman entered.
She smiled at me. She had pretty eyes and a youthful appearance.
"Finally awake. You've made quite an impression, Claudia," she said.
"I suppose I have," I answered. "My father always said I shouldn't let anyone step on me and I've taken that advice to heart regarding all these events."
"We all get stepped on from time to time," she said. "I am the Ghul Grand Mistress Hanna. I am three hundred and seventeen years old. I've been stepped on quite a bit over the years, but eventually, when you are doing the stepping on and you do enough of it, you end up on top and no one can step on you anymore."
"Are you going to step on me?" I asked. I was not really afraid. I was just tired of all these events. Would I ever have a normal life again?
"The Grand Mistress demands sworn fealty and loyalty of her subjects," Hanna said. "As Grand Mistress, we usually don't break our lieutenants. It’s simply not necessary. But in a case such as this, I've already taken the liberty of breaking your subjects and confirming their loyalty. I've reestablished Vanessa as their leader and she has sworn loyalty back to me. All in all, things are back to normal."
"What does that mean for me?" I asked.
"A storm is coming," she said. "The Houri are weak. Their strongholds are falling and they long to turn the tide again in their favor. I mean to stop them from turning the tide and I mean to eradicate them for good. You have great potential and a Djinn of comparable power serving you. You can help me. I'll take you under my wing and you will have opportunities never believed possible."
"And if I refuse?" I asked.
She smiled. The smile was so sweet but her words dripped with venom.
"Then you'll get stepped on," she said ominously.
I had had enough of this.
"Take her down, Jeanie," I said and the Djinn immediately attacked with a whirlwind of blows faster than anything I had every seen before.
The Ghul dodged every move however as if Jeanie were a child.
She skillfully took Jeanie's extended first and pulled it forward throwing her off balance and reaching into a choking position. A dark mist flowed from her hand into Jeanie's face.
"Can't choke out someone who doesn't breathe," she said for the sake of illustration. "Can't put to sleep someone who doesn't sleep. Can't stop the flow of blood or air to the brain, if your opponent has no blood to begin with."
Jeanie struggled and twisted and turned as Hanna's grip tightened.
"But there are choke holds and there are my brand of choke holds," she said slipping the hold in the right place.
I grabbed a chair and I slammed it on the back of her head. It simply snapped to pieces.
"Common choke holds cut off air or blood to the brain," she continued explaining oblivious to the blow that should have rendered her unconscious. "My choke hold cuts off magic."
She pressed a little harder and Jeanie's eyes bulged and went wide for a moment. Then her eyelids steadily descended despite her herculean efforts to stay awake. Finally, she fell unconscious.
Hanna let her crumple to the ground with a loud thud.
"No need to damage the place with an all out fight. Djinns can be messy when they fight," she explained. "You, of course, are no match for me so I can be gentle."
I didn't know what to say.
I was out of my league and I had played my best card.
"Don't say anything," she said reading my mind. "Just breathe..."
She whispered a word under her breath and a dark milky mist issued from her hand into my face.
I'd like to say I fought and resisted. But I just remember her pretty smile and her lips wording the words "Night, night."
And then I just blacked out.
XXXXVII
My name is not really Aldo. It is a name I picked up over the years. I am not especially attached to it, but since she calls me by that name I've become more fond of it.
I am a powerful Djinn. I know no peer.
For decades I gave been the Houri Grand Mistress's servant.
I am also her bodyguard, her confidant and, when it pleases her, I am her lover.
She is magnificent. Her power, her charisma, her ruthlessness.
She could set me free and I would cast myself at her feet swearing eternal allegiance to her.
She treated the Seer Emma magnanimously. I'd have had her strung up and tickled senseless.
We traveled to the former headquarters of the Ghuls in the city. We knew now where the new headquarters was, but my mistress did not wish to make haste. All at its own time, she would tell me.
"I can't detect them," Emma said when we had arrived. "They were here, but their tracks stop abruptly."
In that, she was correct. There were signs of battle in the Primal Plane. Mostly fire and magic.
"Constantinius was taken away," my mistress said smelling the magic in the air. "A powerful Ghul."
"I cannot see that," Emma stated.
I looked at her with a irritated gaze.
My mistress simply ignored her. Her nostrils flared just slightly as she inhaled the air around the mansion.
"The Ifreet is still here," she said more to herself than to anyone else.
"Not possible," Emma insisted. "I cannot detect her."
The Grand Mistress continued to ignore her. She stepped carefully around. Step by step she moved exerting extreme caution.
And then she acted. Constantinius's gladius slipped into her hand and she slashed out into the air.
The head of a construct appeared out of nothing and rolled on the ground.
The body suddenly appeared crouched over the Iftreet's body and it dissolved as did the head of the construct.
"Soul Eater," my mistress said with disgust.
"I did not know they still existed anymore," the Seer commented in awe of what had just happened.
"This one was the last of their kind. I know the owner," she said tensely turning the Ifreet over on her back with the tip of her toe. "This one apparently also knows her."
"Shall I prepare her for interrogation?" I offered.
"She's practically senseless as she is. She'd be valuable under other circumstances. I just want her knowledge now."
I knew what my mistress meant. I lifted the Ifreet by the back of the neck and held her groggy face towards my mistress.
She took the Ifreet by the chin and patted her gently on the cheek.
"Wake up, it's all right, kitten," she said soothingly.
The Ifreet's eyes fluttered open and she tried to get her bearings. At that moment, my mistress raised her sunglasses and she looked into the Ifreet's eyes. The Ifreet's eyes went wide but she did not scream. I felt her body convulse as my mistress entered her mind and rampaged through it in an effort to find what she needed.
"Thank you, kitten," she said patting her cheek gently after concluding.
The Ifreet was unconscious.
I dropped her callously to the ground and she crumpled in a senseless heap.
My mistress smiled at me in approval.
"We're leaving. I know what and who we are up against," my mistress said.
"And J'sella?" Emma questioned. "She herself is a prize greater than most. She could serve the Houri well."
"My opponent has abandoned her," my mistress retorted. "I don't take hand-me-downs from her. Besides, she's useless right now."
She then eyed the Seer and made her mind up. She looked to me and I understood perfectly.
"Speaking of useless..." she said.
I tackled the Seer to the ground. Her tattoos on her legs and arms where her line of defense. They were of snakes and nuisances of all kinds that came to life and clawed at me tearing into my flesh. I ignored it and I concentrated on tickling her on the ribs. She responded with a squeal and the tattoos became subdued.
I was relentless and technical as I tickled her viciously and cruelly. Off went her shoes and I tickled her soles with relish. She struggled, but I had caught her off guard and I had the advantage by far.
My mistress frequently calls me the "Terminator of Ticklers" referring to my methodical approach to tickling. I don't know what modern reference she makes with that comment. I stopped caring about humans and their droll living three hundred years ago.
However, Terminator has a nice ring to it.
I tickled Emma with relish. I wiped that smug know-it-all look off her face. I made her beg and I made her cry. And I felt good doing it.
I took her from behind and wrapped my arm around her neck. I rolled on my back and held her head still in a powerful headlock while my legs spread and controlled her legs.
"You're a stronger one than most," my mistress said drawing near her. "I needed you a little softened up for what I am about to do. No hard feelings. It is all for the good of the Houri."
She raised her sunglasses and gazed to the Seer's eyes.
The Seer screamed.
XXXXVIII.
I awoke.
I was placed on a sort of spider web. I tried to move but it was impossible. I was stuck like fly.
I was naked and spread eagle.
So was Claudia, but she still slept.
"You could have betrayed her, Djinn," Hanna said studying me intently. She had awakened me and must have been studying me unconscious. "It would have been quite simple after the assassination attempt."
"Does that matter?" I said.
"I am just wondering," she shrugged.
Claudia was sleeping peacefully. She looked so vulnerable. So beautiful.
She was not supposed to be my protégé. But I'd grown to like her and respect her and even love her like a sister despite having known her only a few days.
Hanna pulled a dagger free from a sheath.
"She's so vulnerable," she said echoing my thoughts. Could she read my mind? She traced Claudia’s sides with the tip of the blade. "She won't wake until I tell her to." She tickled Claudia's side earnestly with her nails and there was no reaction.
"I just need to plunge this into her heart," she said placing the tip just above Claudia’s bare breast aiming for the heart. "She'd die peacefully. Quietly. Conveniently."
"What do you want, that you cannot take?" I asked. "Make your point."
"The point is resting on her breast," Hanna said. "I did not become the Grand Mistress of the Ghuls being a nice person. I look young, but I have been around a while. And I may look cruel, but I am what I need to be to survive."
“What do you want from me?” I asked.
"She is weak and incapacitated. You can break your bond to her. You can break it and serve me."
"I will not,” I said vehemently.
"I can just kill her and wear you down,” Hanna said. “It would be the same. Just she'll be dead. I don't mind actually. I actually think she could be a threat in a decade or so. Why not just nip her in the bud? Vanessa is ambitious but predictable. I prefer my subjects and my enemies predictable."
"And if I swear to serve?" I asked feeling an empty feeling inside.
"She lives," she replied. “So long as you serve, she lives. She serves as well."
"Why not just kill her and take me?" I asked uncertain of her angle.
She smiled. "It's not the same. You'll understand what I mean later. But I know how you feel for her. You don't really have a choice, do you?"
"Yes, there is no choice,” I said with my jaw clenched in anger. “I choose to sever my servitude to the Ghul Claudia and I serve you Ghul Hanna, Ghul Grand Mistress. The Universe be my witness."
The words were hollow but binding.
"Excellent."
She touched the spider web and it dissolved and there I stood, naked and attentive to her commands.
She touched Claudia and she awoke.
"What happened?" she asked groggily.
"Your Djinn is my Djinn now," Hanna explained. Then she turned to me.
"Tickle her, Djinn. Mercilessly until she submits to me," Hanna commanded me.
I obeyed.
"Jeanie?" Claudia asked her eyes clearly disappointed.
"I'm sorry," I said placing my hands on her sides and tickling her.
Her eyes and mouth lit up with laughter as I tickled her, but it was artificial. The disappointment was still there beneath. No amount of tickling would cover that.
"Be ruthless," Hanna said sitting back and watching intently.
“Your wish is my command,” I said as tears streaked down my cheeks.
I understood what the Ghul meant. It wasn’t the same. Not by far.
And I hated her all the more for it.
To be continued.
XXXXIV.
I heard the spheres click together as the Ghul departed and she tossed them in my direction.
The spheres glowed and expanded like cells growing.
And grow it did until it took the form of a metallic humanoid construct.
Sort of like a man in armor just more compact, stronger by far and faster by even more. It was bronze in color with black trim. It had three arms on each side and I knew it had a purpose for each arm. Its face was a simple black visor, so the construct was completely devoid or emotion.
Immortals call them Soul Eaters.
For a Houri or a Ghul, they mean almost certain death.
To Djinn or an Ifreet, they mean being bound to the construct and not as a servant. Power stays and existence just sort of dissolves away.
For a powerful Ghul or Houri, these constructs are a favored ally. They are rare. I have not seen one for centuries.
I phased back into the Multi-verse. It is an almost purely magical construct and it cannot enter.
I ran. I ran as fast as my legs would take me. In the Multi-verse I am not as strong as in the Primal Plane.
A coil shot out from the palm of one of the hands of the Soul Eater. It penetrated the veil of the Multi-verse and it wrapped around my ankle. I tripped and it hauled me back into the Primal Plane. I grabbed the coil and I burned it with all my might but new coils flew from other hands of the Soul Eater and they wrapped around my wrists holding me tight.
I was weak and tired and no match for this creature. The coils undid the laces to the boots I was wearing and they expertly pulled them off. Socks were removed with equal precision. Perhaps even better than fingers could do it.
And then they just attacked my feet. They acted like the perfect hybrid between a feather and a finger. It was soft when it wanted to tease, hard when it located the right spot. It found the right spot quickly and it attacked.
Closer and closer it drew me while I laughed at the sensations on my soles.
As I drew near a pinkish gas shot from the visor and I breathed the fumes. I thought first it might be some sort of anesthetic to try and render me helpless, but it was quite the contrary. I did not need to breathe not being human, but somehow the gas penetrated my body. Permeated is perhaps the better word. My nerves were electrified and the tickling sensations became more intense and I screamed and the tickling continued.
More coils came from the sides and the Soul Eater was tickling me effortlessly reaching under my blouse and going through my sleeve up to my armpits. Others crept up my pant legs and climbed upwards. They were probing the calves, the back of the knees and then my inner thighs.
All was ticklish, but the inner thighs were the sweet spot and it knew it the moment it got there. The tips of the coils moved purposely at the point where the inner thighs meet the torso and they wiggled wickedly.
I laughed and screamed and I was pushed to my limits thrashing helplessly in the iron grip of the construct.
Exhausted and responding less and less to the tickling, the Soul Eater cast me on the ground on my back and mounted me like a lover might. A cocoon shaped force formed over us. Invisible to the outside on all planes. The construct would simply tickle me and feast on my life energy. And once it had consumed me in my entirety only it would emerge from the cocoon. The tickling would be savage and the attack on my psyche would go hand in hand.
No help on the way. No way to escape.
Ray would die and he'd be back, but not I. I'd be a permanent part of the Soul Eater.
Without identity, without soul, without love.
XXXXV.
I awoke.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"Does it matter?" the Ghul Hanna answered.
"I guess not," I replied shaking the cobwebs from my head. My body ached. I was not restrained. I was free but I felt trapped in a sense.
"You been out cold the last few days," she said. "I've been busy, so I kept up on ice until I could attend you properly."
"Are you going to kill me?" I asked.
"Is that what you thought would happen to you?" she asked seemingly entertained.
"The thought had crossed my mind," I said.
"If I kill you, you will return and we would have to play this out again," she said. "If I keep you as my pet for a few centuries and erode your spirit until it is a amorphous spineless mass, then I avoid your coming back for a time and when you do, perhaps you'd be more content flipping burgers rather than leading the Houri."
"Eroding the spirit," I repeated not liking the taste of the words on my tongue. "Doesn't sound like fun."
"Depends on who you ask," she said candidly. "You will beg me to tickle you. Beg me to hurt you. Beg me to mount you and ride you to my heart's content."
"I don't think so," I said boldly.
"Not today and not tomorrow," she said. "But all succumb eventually. The stronger the will, the greater the degradation and more they end up worshiping me at the end."
I looked around and saw the I was in a lush and luxurious room. It was twilight and the light of day was fading and the room was already illuminated by globes of light. The ocean could be heard outside and I had a distinct feeling that this was much like the bottle J'sella was trapped in when I was her master centuries past.
"No restraints, no bars on the windows, no locked doors," I observed. "But I am trapped as can be."
"That is correct," she said.
"If I attack you?" I prompted.
"The very room would aid me. If I required such aid. But we have already dueled and you are nothing to me. Nothing more than a fly," she said.
"So how do you plan on making me 'succumb'?" I asked.
"Torture is overrated. Not that I do not recur to it on many an occasion but if I have a choice, I usually prefer not to torture."
"Your good will shall win me over?" I asked sarcastically.
"My Djinns, Amela and T'ish will win you over," she said gesturing to two alluring Djinns that appered behind her.
They had been there the entire time. There were like twins but different. Amela was tall and white skinned with blue eyes and long flowing blond hair. She was slim but her curves were noticeable through her white gossamer dancer's outfit. T'ish was an exact copy of Amela, but her hair was raven black and her skin was tanned lightly. Her eyes were black and her outfit was black as well. They looked sexy as could be but there was something ominous about them.
"Not interested. I have enough girlfriend problems as it is," I said.
"You don't have much of a choice," Hanna replied. "Show him," she commanded.
The twin Djinns looked at me in unison and suddenly something changed. Like a switch had been turned on.
Their curves suddenly seemed more noticeable. Their bare skin was more eager. I felt myself grow excited in an instant with a rock hard erection that usually only presented itself in the heat of passion.
"You are feeling the Lust," Hanna explained with a professor's interest. "An ancient art of seduction which takes pleasure to an extreme. Amela and T'ish are experts in the lost art. They in fact have dedicated themselves to this art and this alone. All other skills have been forgotten. They live to give pleasure."
They were still a few feet away but their perfumed smell was alluring. Penetrating and intoxicating. Like nothing I had ever experienced. All my senses were on fire.
They approached and they touched me and I felt electricity rush through my body.
They removed heir clothes and they pulled off mine as I feebly resisted. I was naked before I realized it.
"You can't resist," Hanna said watching with keen rapture. "You are putty in their able hands."
I didn't realize what was happening really until I was pushed back on the bed and Amela mounted me. She slid over me with total ease and she was tight as she moved up and down .
"You'll climax quickly," Hanna said after watching a few long strokes as Amela expertly rose the full length of my shaft before descending expertly.
Maybe it was the word "climax" or maybe it was just that I was too excited to control myself. Whatever it was, I tightened and ejaculated violently.
"There we are," she said smiling. She was satisfied as I grunted with release. "But it will bring no relief. The cycle simply continues."
She was right. I was hard again in a thought and Amela simply continued to ride me.
T'ish pulled my arms above my head and tickled my armpits. I laughed hard but it didn't seem to matter to me. The Lust mattered and I could not pull myself away. T'ish released me and lingered by watching intently.
I came and I came and I came again. They were relentless and there was no satiating my lust. It would just start again and again.
Each time I came, Hanna suppressed a satisfied and entertained giggle. She finally approached and she scrambled her fingernails over the soles my bare feet as Amela rode me with unflinching accuracy carefully calculating every stroke to maximize my pleasure. I laughed and struggled but it just felt more sexy and I came again much in spite of myself.
"I'll take care of you myself once they've had their way with you. You will beg me to ride you and I will do it to say that I have conquered the infamous Constatinius."
She tickled once again teasing my toes and I groaned and laughed helplessly.
"Tickle him from time to time, T'ish," she instructed. "Don't let him think too much."
She leaned down to me so I could hear her. I looked at her; her pretty face and her pretty eyes.
"Alas, Contantinius, I must tend other pressing business. I'd enjoy this but there are things I need to attend to," she said kissing me gently on the forehead.
"You will discover that I am a very generous but demanding mistress, Constantinius," she added.
"Please enjoy your demise."
XXXXVI
I awoke lying on a couch in a room of the penthouse.
"Melissa is dead," Jeanie said. She had said the words sadly as she sat at my side.
"You should be dead as well," she added.
"Are you disappointed?" I asked my head pounding.
Jeanie looked a little hurt and I regretted having said the words.
"Of course, not," she said. "I've kept you sedated these past few days. The blast was enough to kill and your body and spirit needed time to recover. It was also fortunate that you were incapacitated."
"How can that be fortunate?" I asked frustrated. "There are people to manage. Things to do."
"Not anymore," Jeanie said. "The Ghul Grand Mistress Hanna has relieved you of your duties. She is thankful for your ingenuity and resourcefulness, but she will take control of this city. Your bonds are erased and all have pledged loyalty to the Grand Mistress. You will be expected to do the same."
"I don't want to swear loyalty to anyone," I said.
Jeanie smiled weakly. "We never do."
And again. "I'm sorry," I apologized and before I could say more the door to the room opened and a slender woman entered.
She smiled at me. She had pretty eyes and a youthful appearance.
"Finally awake. You've made quite an impression, Claudia," she said.
"I suppose I have," I answered. "My father always said I shouldn't let anyone step on me and I've taken that advice to heart regarding all these events."
"We all get stepped on from time to time," she said. "I am the Ghul Grand Mistress Hanna. I am three hundred and seventeen years old. I've been stepped on quite a bit over the years, but eventually, when you are doing the stepping on and you do enough of it, you end up on top and no one can step on you anymore."
"Are you going to step on me?" I asked. I was not really afraid. I was just tired of all these events. Would I ever have a normal life again?
"The Grand Mistress demands sworn fealty and loyalty of her subjects," Hanna said. "As Grand Mistress, we usually don't break our lieutenants. It’s simply not necessary. But in a case such as this, I've already taken the liberty of breaking your subjects and confirming their loyalty. I've reestablished Vanessa as their leader and she has sworn loyalty back to me. All in all, things are back to normal."
"What does that mean for me?" I asked.
"A storm is coming," she said. "The Houri are weak. Their strongholds are falling and they long to turn the tide again in their favor. I mean to stop them from turning the tide and I mean to eradicate them for good. You have great potential and a Djinn of comparable power serving you. You can help me. I'll take you under my wing and you will have opportunities never believed possible."
"And if I refuse?" I asked.
She smiled. The smile was so sweet but her words dripped with venom.
"Then you'll get stepped on," she said ominously.
I had had enough of this.
"Take her down, Jeanie," I said and the Djinn immediately attacked with a whirlwind of blows faster than anything I had every seen before.
The Ghul dodged every move however as if Jeanie were a child.
She skillfully took Jeanie's extended first and pulled it forward throwing her off balance and reaching into a choking position. A dark mist flowed from her hand into Jeanie's face.
"Can't choke out someone who doesn't breathe," she said for the sake of illustration. "Can't put to sleep someone who doesn't sleep. Can't stop the flow of blood or air to the brain, if your opponent has no blood to begin with."
Jeanie struggled and twisted and turned as Hanna's grip tightened.
"But there are choke holds and there are my brand of choke holds," she said slipping the hold in the right place.
I grabbed a chair and I slammed it on the back of her head. It simply snapped to pieces.
"Common choke holds cut off air or blood to the brain," she continued explaining oblivious to the blow that should have rendered her unconscious. "My choke hold cuts off magic."
She pressed a little harder and Jeanie's eyes bulged and went wide for a moment. Then her eyelids steadily descended despite her herculean efforts to stay awake. Finally, she fell unconscious.
Hanna let her crumple to the ground with a loud thud.
"No need to damage the place with an all out fight. Djinns can be messy when they fight," she explained. "You, of course, are no match for me so I can be gentle."
I didn't know what to say.
I was out of my league and I had played my best card.
"Don't say anything," she said reading my mind. "Just breathe..."
She whispered a word under her breath and a dark milky mist issued from her hand into my face.
I'd like to say I fought and resisted. But I just remember her pretty smile and her lips wording the words "Night, night."
And then I just blacked out.
XXXXVII
My name is not really Aldo. It is a name I picked up over the years. I am not especially attached to it, but since she calls me by that name I've become more fond of it.
I am a powerful Djinn. I know no peer.
For decades I gave been the Houri Grand Mistress's servant.
I am also her bodyguard, her confidant and, when it pleases her, I am her lover.
She is magnificent. Her power, her charisma, her ruthlessness.
She could set me free and I would cast myself at her feet swearing eternal allegiance to her.
She treated the Seer Emma magnanimously. I'd have had her strung up and tickled senseless.
We traveled to the former headquarters of the Ghuls in the city. We knew now where the new headquarters was, but my mistress did not wish to make haste. All at its own time, she would tell me.
"I can't detect them," Emma said when we had arrived. "They were here, but their tracks stop abruptly."
In that, she was correct. There were signs of battle in the Primal Plane. Mostly fire and magic.
"Constantinius was taken away," my mistress said smelling the magic in the air. "A powerful Ghul."
"I cannot see that," Emma stated.
I looked at her with a irritated gaze.
My mistress simply ignored her. Her nostrils flared just slightly as she inhaled the air around the mansion.
"The Ifreet is still here," she said more to herself than to anyone else.
"Not possible," Emma insisted. "I cannot detect her."
The Grand Mistress continued to ignore her. She stepped carefully around. Step by step she moved exerting extreme caution.
And then she acted. Constantinius's gladius slipped into her hand and she slashed out into the air.
The head of a construct appeared out of nothing and rolled on the ground.
The body suddenly appeared crouched over the Iftreet's body and it dissolved as did the head of the construct.
"Soul Eater," my mistress said with disgust.
"I did not know they still existed anymore," the Seer commented in awe of what had just happened.
"This one was the last of their kind. I know the owner," she said tensely turning the Ifreet over on her back with the tip of her toe. "This one apparently also knows her."
"Shall I prepare her for interrogation?" I offered.
"She's practically senseless as she is. She'd be valuable under other circumstances. I just want her knowledge now."
I knew what my mistress meant. I lifted the Ifreet by the back of the neck and held her groggy face towards my mistress.
She took the Ifreet by the chin and patted her gently on the cheek.
"Wake up, it's all right, kitten," she said soothingly.
The Ifreet's eyes fluttered open and she tried to get her bearings. At that moment, my mistress raised her sunglasses and she looked into the Ifreet's eyes. The Ifreet's eyes went wide but she did not scream. I felt her body convulse as my mistress entered her mind and rampaged through it in an effort to find what she needed.
"Thank you, kitten," she said patting her cheek gently after concluding.
The Ifreet was unconscious.
I dropped her callously to the ground and she crumpled in a senseless heap.
My mistress smiled at me in approval.
"We're leaving. I know what and who we are up against," my mistress said.
"And J'sella?" Emma questioned. "She herself is a prize greater than most. She could serve the Houri well."
"My opponent has abandoned her," my mistress retorted. "I don't take hand-me-downs from her. Besides, she's useless right now."
She then eyed the Seer and made her mind up. She looked to me and I understood perfectly.
"Speaking of useless..." she said.
I tackled the Seer to the ground. Her tattoos on her legs and arms where her line of defense. They were of snakes and nuisances of all kinds that came to life and clawed at me tearing into my flesh. I ignored it and I concentrated on tickling her on the ribs. She responded with a squeal and the tattoos became subdued.
I was relentless and technical as I tickled her viciously and cruelly. Off went her shoes and I tickled her soles with relish. She struggled, but I had caught her off guard and I had the advantage by far.
My mistress frequently calls me the "Terminator of Ticklers" referring to my methodical approach to tickling. I don't know what modern reference she makes with that comment. I stopped caring about humans and their droll living three hundred years ago.
However, Terminator has a nice ring to it.
I tickled Emma with relish. I wiped that smug know-it-all look off her face. I made her beg and I made her cry. And I felt good doing it.
I took her from behind and wrapped my arm around her neck. I rolled on my back and held her head still in a powerful headlock while my legs spread and controlled her legs.
"You're a stronger one than most," my mistress said drawing near her. "I needed you a little softened up for what I am about to do. No hard feelings. It is all for the good of the Houri."
She raised her sunglasses and gazed to the Seer's eyes.
The Seer screamed.
XXXXVIII.
I awoke.
I was placed on a sort of spider web. I tried to move but it was impossible. I was stuck like fly.
I was naked and spread eagle.
So was Claudia, but she still slept.
"You could have betrayed her, Djinn," Hanna said studying me intently. She had awakened me and must have been studying me unconscious. "It would have been quite simple after the assassination attempt."
"Does that matter?" I said.
"I am just wondering," she shrugged.
Claudia was sleeping peacefully. She looked so vulnerable. So beautiful.
She was not supposed to be my protégé. But I'd grown to like her and respect her and even love her like a sister despite having known her only a few days.
Hanna pulled a dagger free from a sheath.
"She's so vulnerable," she said echoing my thoughts. Could she read my mind? She traced Claudia’s sides with the tip of the blade. "She won't wake until I tell her to." She tickled Claudia's side earnestly with her nails and there was no reaction.
"I just need to plunge this into her heart," she said placing the tip just above Claudia’s bare breast aiming for the heart. "She'd die peacefully. Quietly. Conveniently."
"What do you want, that you cannot take?" I asked. "Make your point."
"The point is resting on her breast," Hanna said. "I did not become the Grand Mistress of the Ghuls being a nice person. I look young, but I have been around a while. And I may look cruel, but I am what I need to be to survive."
“What do you want from me?” I asked.
"She is weak and incapacitated. You can break your bond to her. You can break it and serve me."
"I will not,” I said vehemently.
"I can just kill her and wear you down,” Hanna said. “It would be the same. Just she'll be dead. I don't mind actually. I actually think she could be a threat in a decade or so. Why not just nip her in the bud? Vanessa is ambitious but predictable. I prefer my subjects and my enemies predictable."
"And if I swear to serve?" I asked feeling an empty feeling inside.
"She lives," she replied. “So long as you serve, she lives. She serves as well."
"Why not just kill her and take me?" I asked uncertain of her angle.
She smiled. "It's not the same. You'll understand what I mean later. But I know how you feel for her. You don't really have a choice, do you?"
"Yes, there is no choice,” I said with my jaw clenched in anger. “I choose to sever my servitude to the Ghul Claudia and I serve you Ghul Hanna, Ghul Grand Mistress. The Universe be my witness."
The words were hollow but binding.
"Excellent."
She touched the spider web and it dissolved and there I stood, naked and attentive to her commands.
She touched Claudia and she awoke.
"What happened?" she asked groggily.
"Your Djinn is my Djinn now," Hanna explained. Then she turned to me.
"Tickle her, Djinn. Mercilessly until she submits to me," Hanna commanded me.
I obeyed.
"Jeanie?" Claudia asked her eyes clearly disappointed.
"I'm sorry," I said placing my hands on her sides and tickling her.
Her eyes and mouth lit up with laughter as I tickled her, but it was artificial. The disappointment was still there beneath. No amount of tickling would cover that.
"Be ruthless," Hanna said sitting back and watching intently.
“Your wish is my command,” I said as tears streaked down my cheeks.
I understood what the Ghul meant. It wasn’t the same. Not by far.
And I hated her all the more for it.
To be continued.
